Warren Buffett’s company loaded up on Apple Inc. stock in the first quarter, buying a whopping 75 million shares, CNBC reported Thursday night.
That’s in addition to the 165.3 million Apple shares [1]that Berkshire Hathaway BRK.B, -0.88%[2] owned at the end of 2017 — about 3.3% of shares outstanding at the time. As of the end of last year, Apple was Berkshire’s second-largest holding, valued at about $28 billion, behind its stake in Wells Fargo & Co.[3] WFC, -0.50%[4] , valued at about $29 billion. The latest buying spree likely put Apple in first place.
“It is an unbelievable company,” Buffett told CNBC[5]. “If you look at Apple, I think it earns almost twice as much as the second most profitable company in the United States.”
“Over the last year we’ve bought more Apple than anything else,” Buffett told CNBC in February[6].
Apple shares closed Thursday at $177, up 4.5% year to date and 20.3% in the past year, compared to the S&P 500’s SPX, -0.23%[7] 1.6% loss this year and 10.1% gain over the past year.
Read: Here’s how Warren Buffett’s stock picks for Berkshire Hathaway have performed in 2018[8]
Berkshire’s class B shares ended Thursday at $191.61, and are down 3.3% this year, though up 15% over the past year.
The latest purchase of Apple stock was reported ahead of an interview with Buffett scheduled to air Friday morning on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
Berkshire Hathaway will hold its annual investors’ meeting Saturday in Omaha, Neb....
References
- ^ 165.3 million Apple shares (www.marketwatch.com)
- ^ BRK.B, -0.88% (www.marketwatch.com)
- ^ its stake in Wells Fargo & Co. (www.marketwatch.com)
- ^ WFC, -0.50% (www.marketwatch.com)
- ^ Buffett told CNBC (www.cnbc.com)
- ^ Buffett told CNBC in February (www.marketwatch.com)
- ^ SPX, -0.23% (www.marketwatch.com)
- ^ Here’s how Warren Buffett’s stock picks for Berkshire Hathaway have performed in 2018 (www.marketwatch.com)